Suspect Seized in Simi Valley Theft of Entire Cash Register

A 26-year-old man who police suspect stole the whole cash register April 12 when a Simi Valley convenience store clerk could not get it open fast enough was arrested early Friday while walking just blocks from the store, Simi Valley police reported.

Dane Espasandin of Simi Valley was taken into custody at the corner of Royal Avenue and Erringer Road about 2 a.m. by a patrol officer who said he fit the description of a man who stumbled out of a Stop N' Go convenience store in the 1600 block of Royal Avenue carrying the 30-pound cash register, Detective Robert Hopkins said. Espasandin was booked on suspicion of robbery and held on $5,000 bail.

Another man also suspected in the robbery of the convenience store is being sought, Hopkins said.

Two men entered the store about 1:15 a.m. April 12. One pointed a handgun at the clerk and demanded that he open the register and hand over the money, Lt. Bob Klamser said.

The clerk, however, was too flustered to open the register, so the gunmen fired a shot, which missed the employee, Klamser said. The armed man again ordered the clerk to open the register, but when he still could not, the other man picked it up and ran from the store. The armed man fired another shot as he left, again missing the clerk.

The robbers were seen escaping on foot in the direction of a nearby park. Three days later, the cash register, which had contained about $60 in cash, was found at the bottom of a pond at the Simi Hills Golf Course, Hopkins said.